INTERVIEW: Pepper Keenan + Woody Weatherman Reflect on Corrosion of Conformity's History, Celebrate Massive New Album

Corrosion of Conformity will release their massive double-album, Good God / Baad Man, on Friday (April 3). Ahead of that, founding member Woody Weatherman and longtime frontman Pepper Keenan joined Loudwire Nights on Tuesday (March 31) to discuss the record, reflect on the band's history and more.

Listen to the full conversation in the player near the end of this article.

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"We went and listened to all kinds of old records and stuff that we dug, we were just drinking beer, playing guitar, writing riffs," Keenan explained to Loudwire Nights host Chuck Armstrong about creating the songs that would eventually become Good God / Baad Man.

"[We'd] track it on a four-track, just doing it the super old-school way. And you know, if some of these things, if you didn't remember them, they weren't good enough ... Once we had them in our brain and we could talk to each other and hum the riff and know what song we were talking about without having digital files of it and all this baloney, we knew were onto something."

Weatherman shared similar memories of the ease with which they created the new album.

"Pepper and I were talking about it early on in the recording process, we're like, man, we're just sitting here, two guys having a blast, writing blistering riffs, having fun," he said.

"That's what it's all about. We're like, yeah, pass me another beer."

Once fans get their hands on Good God / Baad Man, there's no question they'll be blown away by the ground that Corrosion of Conformity cover. In a lot of ways, the band's 11th full-length captures the varied sounds that COC have been creating since Weatherman formed it in the early '80s.

"It kind of wound up being that way because there's elements from all the sort of different eras or time stamps of Corrosion of Conformity," Weatherman said.

"You put that much time into a band — starting out as kids, I guess people called us a hardcore band or a punk rock band or whatever. And then they morphed it into a crossover and it was like, okay. Then all of a sudden we're doom metal or we're thrash metal, we're heavy metal, whatever all the terms are. I was like, well, we're COC. That's just all of our influences."

Keenan added, "I had a friend of mine who's a pretty big rock and roll dude in the industry. I played [the album] for him and he was freaking out. And he was kind of like, 'Man, this sounds like every CoC record ever made all in one.' I was like, damn, you know, you're kind of right."

For Weatherman, when he thought about starting the band in 1982, he seemed grateful that all these years later, he's still enjoying making music with Corrosion.

"[It's always been about] having a good time, having a blast with your buddies," he said.

"That's the way it started and that's kind of the way it still is. I wouldn't do it if we didn't have fun, if it wasn't a blast — everything from making records to hitting the road."

When Keenan joined in 1989, he was thrilled to join Weatherman in the pursuit of having a good time making rock and roll.

"I loved the band before I was in it, I was a huge fan," he shared.

"Animosity was a game changer. I've been in it for so long, but I knew that they were a special breed of bands from that era. You could count on them on one hand back then, maybe two hands of the ones that really came to the top. And COC was my number one, because they were good players and they had very open minds and they weren't trying to just do the same thing over and over."

What Else Did Corrosion of Conformity's Pepper Keenan and Woody Weatherman Discuss on Loudwire Nights?

Keenan's memory of meeting James Hetfield at a party: "I think Metallica was having a party in New York City where they had just sold I don't know how many copies of "The Black Album. Reed [Mullin] knew somebody who got us on the list to go to this party. We were at the party, we were just hanging out, drinking beer and just schmoozing and all that shit in New York City. And Hetfield walked up to us and started talking about how much he thought the Deliverance record was one of the coolest things he heard in a long time. I was blown away. When we were making the Deliverance record, I was thinking partly in my brain, we didn't want to be Metallica, I was thinking, what would make Metallica think we were cool? I don't want to be them, what would make Hetfield go, 'These dudes are fucking bad'? And sure as shit he walked up and there it was."
Weatherman's love of Soundgarden: "Soundgarden is one of my favorite bands of all time. We did some of those early tours with them, like Louder Than Love. We went to Europe with them and later on, whatever the record was right after that, they took us back there. I'd say out of all that bunch, Soundgarden were my boys. I still love them today. I still listen to that stuff all the time. During that whole craze of Nirvana and all that stuff where that was all you ever heard, that kind of got a little old, [but] Soundgarden was always there for me."
Weathermen reflecting on the death of drummer Reed Mullin: "Whenever I got the word that he had passed on, it was like a big weight dropped on me. We were high school buddies, we started the band when we were both, I don't know, in 10th grade or something. So we've been at it a long time and we had a great run. But he is missed. It's very hard to replace a musician, a drummer like Reed, because he was phenomenal. He was a big part of what built the COC sound, just his vibe. The groove, the laid back stuff, the swing. You got to have swing for a band like Corrosion. We're not straight ahead, you got to get some of that swing in there and Reed was a master at it, you know?"
Keenan on the next Down album: "It's been super busy. I was dealing with that last week. We are heading to mix world. So, it's tracked."